Prospects of Basalt Fibers Application for Ice Consolidation

In the conditions of the Arctic and northern regions one of the most promising construction materials can be considered ice and snow. This is justified by their availability, ease of processing, environmental safety, and lack of need for disposal after the end of their service life. However, despite these advantages, ice has insufficient strength and exhibits high brittleness at subzero temperatures, which limits the widespread use of ice in this capacity. One of the effective and widely used methods to increase the strength of ice is its reinforcement. Among various reinforcing materials basalt fibers stand out due to their high performance and environmental friendliness. Within the framework of the study, the prospects of application of ice material reinforced with discrete basalt fibers - fibre reinforcement - are considered. The structural parameters of the reinforcing filler of the composite material were calculated, as well as the strength characteristics of the material depending on the fiber content. The results of predicting the properties of fibrold demonstrated that the use of basalt fibers as a reinforcing component allows increasing the bending strength of fresh ice by 2–3 times. Experimental data obtained in the study of the strength characteristics of fibroblend depending on the filler concentration confirm compliance with the calculated values. Besides, basalt fibers are an environmentally safe material: their chemical composition is identical to natural raw materials, and when the composite is used as an ice coating, they do not form harmful bottom sediments after melting. The obtained results indicate the prospect of using fiberboard as an effective and environmentally friendly material for construction, in particular, for creating ice crossings and other temporary structures in cold climate conditions